A school resource officer arrested an 11-year-old Rawlinson Road Middle School student Wednesday after the boy went to school with 10 nails in his pocket. The boy produced the three-and-a-half-inch-long nails after Dianne McCray, the school's assistant principal, asked about a jingling sound in his right pocket. McCray asked to see what was in his pocket, and he gave her the nails.

The boy first said the nails were from a project about 10 days before, according to the police report. He then said the nails were for self-defense because a suspicious man had been seen in his neighborhood. He also said he needed the nails for a Boy Scout outing this weekend, the report said.

He was charged with having an unlawful weapon but was not taken to the police station; his father picked him up from school. The Herald is not identifying the boy because of his age.

The boy had the nails from an earlier scouting trip, his father said, and noticed them in his pocket after putting on a pair of pants he had not worn since the trip.

"They were not to be used as a weapon at school," the boy's father said.

McCray then called in school resource officer Ashley Doster, who sought charges against the boy.

State law says anything that can be construed or used as a weapon on school grounds can be classified as unlawful, said Lt. Jerry Waldrop of the Rock Hill Police Department.

"I'm not second-guessing the officer that made the charge," Waldrop said. "The nails could have been used against other students. The juvenile with them did state he had them for protection against a suspicious male in the neighborhood."

But the boy's father said his son did not threaten anyone with the nails, did not do anything violent, and had no intentions to use the nails as a weapon.

"Is a pencil a weapon? Is a pen a weapon? Is a paperclip a weapon?" the father asked. "I think this whole charge is ridiculous."

The decision to have the boy arrested was made by the school's administrators, said Rock Hill school district spokeswoman Elaine Baker, who did not know specifically why the decision was made.

"The information I read was that the student didn't bring the nails to harm anybody," Baker said. "They were left in there (the pocket) from something else."

I don't know how many times I have left something in my pocket after working on a project or chore. I hope the family sues the he** out of this school. This crap is getting out of hand. These people are supposed to be educated professionals, but their reaction shows they didn't teach common sense where they got their degrees. This is as bad as suspending 6 - 7 year olds for playing cowboys and Indians at recess using their fingers for guns.

The article fails to note that Wednesday, the day this occurred, was the last day of school.

It is entirely possible that with last day of school threats, that this boy did have the nails for self defense. Also, knowing these kind of things happen, school officials are very sensitive to these kind of things on the last day.

34
posted on 05/28/2005 8:26:41 PM PDT
by Between the Lines
(We are enabled to see the Lord at work if our eyes and our hearts are open." - George W. Bush)

This situation is getting totally weird. In the last decade or two professional educators have completely forgotten how children think. Little boys often collect stuff they find interesting and carry it around with them. Don't they recall the song lyrics from their own pot addled youth, ... brought him string and sealing wax, and other fancy stuff.

I am thinking about firing out an email asking if pencils are considered a dangerous weapon. I suppose if any carpenters happened to walk into the school to work on a construction project, you would have the swat team called in. A screw driver to change out an electrical outlet would cause an incidence response that would have the neighborhood evacuated within a ten block radius.

What a coincidence that my 11 year old daughter was playing with a block of wood and seven nails just before supper. She asked me if I could stack all the nails on the block with only one nail touching the wood. I let her show me how it was done and she constructed a fabulous balancing puzzle on one nail in about 15 seconds. I was very impressed and when I asked her where she got this neat puzzle, (I'm thinking Cracker Barrel), she said "My Teacher made one for every student in the class and gave them to us". Of course, she doesn't go to a public school, so nails are used for instruction in engineering and construction instead of assaulting people... and their individual freedoms.

Yes, but lawsuits against schools are why these arrests occur to begin with. Perhaps we should stop suing at the drop of a hat. Then schools wouldn't feel the need to react with overkill about every tiny incident.

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